Biblical studies is a highly technical and diverse field. This authoritative and state-of-the-art survey of original research will therefore be invaluable to scholars and students who need to command linguistic, historical, literary, and philosophical skills. Forty-five original contributions by leading figures in the discipline review and analyze current thinking and work and give critical examinations of the progress and direction of debates.

J. W. Rogerson is Emeritus Professor of Biblical Studies, University of Sheffield.
Judith M.Lieu is Professor of New Testament Studies, King's College London.

• I. On the Discipline


• History of the discipline in the last 70 years: Old Testament


• History of the discipline in the last 70 years


• Archaeology


• Ancient Near East: Mesopotamia


• Ancient Near East: Egypt


• Qumran studies


• Study of the Graeco-Roman world


• Diaspora and rabbinic Judaism


• II. Languages, translation, and textual transmission of the Bible


• Language and translation of the Old Testament


• Language, translation, versions, and text of the Apocrypha


• Language and translation of the New Testament


• Ancient versions and textual transmission of the Old Testament


• Versions and textual transmission of the New Testament


• III. Historical and social study of the Bible


• Introduction


• Israel to the end of the Persian period


• Israel from the rise of Hellenism to 70 CE


• The life and teaching of Jesus and the rise of Christianity


• Priesthood, temple(s), and sacrifice


• Law


• Scribes and synagogues


• Movements


• Prophecy


• Apocalyptic


• Wisdom


• Novella


• Gospels


• Epistles


• IV. The composition of the Bible


• The growth of the Old Testament


• The growth of the Apocrypha


• The growth of the New Testament


• Authors, books, and readers in the ancient world


• V. Methods in biblical scholarship


• Archaeology


• Textual criticism


• Form, source, and redaction criticism


• Rhetorical and new literary criticism


• Feminist and womanist criticism


• Social, political, and ideological criticism


• VI. The interpretation of the Bible


• Old Testament theology


• New Testament theology


• Biblical theology


• The Bible in ethics


• Jewish interpretation of the Bible


• VII. The authority of the Bible


• Canon


• Fundamentalism(s)


• Historical criticism and biblical authority